Turret-mount trunnion-bearing.



W. MESSINGER.

TURRET MOUNT TRUNNION BEARING.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.9. I915.

1,161,501. Patented Nov. 23, 19l5.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

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TURRET MOUNT TRUNNION BEARING.

APPLICATION FILED JAN-9.1915.

1 1 6 1 ,501 Patented Nov. 23, 1915.

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TUBRET MOUNT TRUNNION BEARING.

APPLICATION FILED JAN-9. 1915.

1,161,501. Patented Nov. 23, 1915.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3.

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WITNESSES: MWEA/Tfll? W 7447/15?! Mas/bye? 51 v 3 S ym/M534 count-IA mNouRAPn 60.. WASHINGTON. n. c.

WILLIAM MESSINGER, 0F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

TURRET-IVIOUNT TRUNNION-BEARING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 23, 1915.

Application filed January 9, 1915. Serial No. 1,317.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM MnssINenR, a subject. of the Emperor of Austria-Hungary, (who has declared his intention of becoming a citizen of the United States,) and a resident of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful Turret-Mount Trunnion-Bearing, of which the following is a specification.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide eflicient, quick and convenient mechanism for lifting the trunnions of guns or gun mounts from their bearings or bearing blocks and for providing a more sensitive mount when the guns are prepared for action.

Another object of the invention is to provide for doing this at both trunnions of a gun at the same time.

The invention will be claimed at the end hereof, but will be first described in connection with the embodiment of it chosen for illustration in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1, is a side view of so much of a gun mount as is necessary to illustrate mechanism embodying features of the invention. Fig. 2, is a transverse sectional view of some of the parts shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3, is a side view, partly in section, of mechanism embodying features of the invention, Fig. 4,

is a sectional view taken at right angles to the plane of Fig. 3, and Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view.

In the drawings 1 is the trunnion of a rifle-housing or gun andit is ordinarily provided with a cavity 2. The center line of the gun or rifle is indicated at 3.

4 is the base or turret mount frame and it is provided with bearings 5, or perhaps more accurately, with bearing blocks as of manganese bronze 6 for the trunnions 1. A detachable cap 7 is shown as are also some other details of construction which are well understood and with which the invention is not concerned.

8 is a body or column as of steel bored out at its upper end to form a cylinder 9 which receives the ram 10 of a hydraulic jack. The lower end of the body 8 is bored out to form a chamber or reservoir 11, for the liquid medium, as oil, by which the jack or lifting device is operated. The chambers or compartments 9 and 11 are not in direct communication and the liquid from one chamber can be transferred into the other chamber only through the medium of the pump casing 12 and its accessories which include a hand lever 13 and other pump mechanism such for example as is described and claimed in my application for a patent serially numbered 7 87 ,556 and filed September 2nd, 1913. The body 8 is provided with flanges 14: which rest in a space that is present in the turret mount frame 1 and these flanges can be secured in place by means of cap screws 15. The upper end of the ram 10 is forked and its prongs 16 carry a pin 17, as of steel, upon the ground cylindrical surface of which operate a set of hardened tool steel rollers 18 and these are surrounded by a hardened and ground tool steel annular casing 19. The pin, the rollers or rolling bodies and the casing thus form a journal roller bearing. The casing 19 fits the cavity 2 with which the trunnion l is ordinarily provided. At the base of the ram there is a leather or fibrous packing 20 and between it and the end of the ram there is a set of conical expansion compensating rings 21. These are also described and claimed in my application above referred to.

The main body of the ram 10 has out upon it a screw thread 22, preferably of the buttress-type, and a nut 23 is fitted upon this thread so that it may be easily and freely turned by hand.

26 is a plug which is provided in order to afford access to the chamber 11.

The mode of operation of the above described mechanism may be explained as follows: The valve 24 is the relief valve of the jack and it is assumed to be closed. One or two strokes of the lever 13 will cause a transfer of liquid from the chamber 11 into the chamber 9 through the agency of the mechanism in the pump casing 12. The ram 10 is moved upward until the roller bearing casing 19 pushes the trunnion 1 of the gun out of its bearing support 6. The lock nut 23 will have moved up with the ram, but it can be rotated by hand to run it down the thread of the ram into contact with the upper face of the body or column 8. The valve 2-1 may now be opened, if desired, thus releasing the fluid pressure in the cylinder 9 so that the load is sustained not by the fluid pressure but is transmitted through the thread of the ram and the lock nut to the metallic support of the body 8, and to the turret mount frame 4. In this way danger of slow and gradual descent of the rain which might becaused by leakage of the fluid used to operate the jack is entirely obviated. Each gun has twotrunnions and each trunnion is fitted with mechanism such as has been described, except that one pump casing 12 can be used for both rams by connecting it with one of them, as shown in Fig. 5, and with the other of them by, a suitable connection, as 25. When this is done the two trunnions can be made to lift simultaneously and to descend si1nultaneously. When the gun is lifted-in the manner described and the lifting device arrested. by the nuts 23,. the muzzle of the gun can. be raised or depressedwith very little resistance because rotary movement is-facilitated by the action of the rollers 18 which runon thepin. I? on account of the rotation of the roller bearing casing 19 which is carried around by the contact friction between its-- external cylindrical surface and the sca ter cavity 2 provided in'the gunv tI'UIIEIlIOTlSQ-- It maybe remarked that the pump casing 12- carries all of the necessary pump mechanism so that it can be removed for replacement or repairs without disturbing therest of.- the: ram mechanism In lowering the the relief valve 24' is closed and the ram liftedv sufliciently by the operation. of; the handle 13- to take the pressure off the nut 23 which canv then be run up on thethreads22, where upon the descentof the gun'c'an be permitted and controlled by proper manipulation. of the relief valve 24,. Evidently the mechanism is compact and. the handle 13 andnut 23 can be conveniently manipulated in. the

more or less contracted space available with."

guns of this character. Moreover the trunnions can be lifted very quickly as but a. few strokes of the handle are necessary to accomplish the result. Moreover the application of power through the medium of. the hiy draulic jack is efficient, particularly since theamount of the-lift is very inconsiderable,

being approximately sufficient to scarcelyv tion of a gun having a pair of. trunnions each. prov ded with. a cavity, a frame having bearings-fen the trunnions, hydraulic jacks interposedbetween the frame and. cavities and. each provided'with a; threaded hav-' ing a cavity engaging a roller bearing and. a lock nut, and a pumpcasing and its operating lever operatively connectedsto-both jacks, substantially as described.

A gun mount co-Inp-risingthe conrbi nation of. a base having a trunnion bearing, a gun having a truninomland a hydraulic jack provided with a roller bearingand with a threaded and with. a lock'nnt: on the threaded. part of the ram, and the jack in+ terposed between the trunnionv and base.

a. A gun. mount comprising: the combination of a basehavingatrunnion bearing,- a

provided with. a: trunnion having a cavity, a column mounted on the frame and provided with a cylinder, a threaded; rant having a: forked-end,v a lock nut on the ram, a pincarried. by the forks, acasingrencii cling the pin. andadaptedtothe cavity, rollers, interposed between the. pin and casing,

and a pump casingdetacl iably connectedjwith the column, and provided with. pump mechanism substantially as, described.

In testimony whereof; I have hereunto signed;my, name. V

WILLIAM MES'SINGEBL. Witnesses:

CLIFFORD GAs's/nn,

FRANK E.- FiuaNoH,

Copies of ch-is"- patent maybe; obtain-adder. five cents each, by addressing-the 'GomxnissionenefePatenfs,

Washington, D. 63 

